“Out of the car.”

I kept Poppy held to my chest, quietly sulking to myself the whole way there. We took one of Candace’s other cars, which were luckily a lot nicer than even my car, and a whole lot better than Leah’s car.

I’ve been here before.

It wasn’t until we were about halfway there that I realized where we were going, and soon enough we pulled in through the secured gates of the unlabelled white building where Candace had brought me for my surgery not even a month prior. It was like deja vu, Leah once again driving me to the facility and escorting me inside at gunpoint. It was the same as it was back then, and aside from the car we arrived in, there was only one big difference from the last time.

Candace wasn’t here with me this time.

“Please put the gun away, Mrs. Watts.” The person who greeted us at the front this time was a woman, someone I hadn’t yet met. “I can’t allow loaded weapons inside past the lobby.”

“It’s not loaded.” Leah looked at me, giving me a gentle smile, she was quiet for a few moments before nervously pulling the gun from my back, having had it pointed between my shoulderblades. “It never was…”

“Leah…” I bit my lip, lowering my head in shame. Of course it was never loaded, she wasn’t expecting to bring me here… she didn’t want to be doing this any more than I did.

“Hush, kiddo.” Leah sighed, shoving me forward up to the front desk.

“What’s this about?” Whoever this woman was, she clearly wasn’t very happy about us being here, typical of an annoyed front desk worker during the night shift. “We aren’t expecting any late night appointments.”

“It’s an arrival.” Leah answered nervously, her hands on my shoulders as she stood behind me.

“Just… one?” The other woman furled her eyebrows in confusion. “On whose authority?”

“Candace St. Clair sent her.” Leah rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Ask Cyrus.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Mr. Griffin isn’t in at the moment, unfortunately.”

“Yeah, I know. Just give him a call.” Leah sighed impatiently, and so did the other woman. She nodded, stepping away from the desk and going over to the phone “Thank you, Jane.”

To my dismay, we had a few minutes alone to ourselves. We took a few steps away from the desk, and as soon as the woman at the front realized that Leah wasn’t actually armed, she locked the doors back outside, preventing me from making a last minute attempt to run away.

“So this is it, huh?” Leah scoffed, shaking her head at me in disbelief. “I really thought you were better than this, kid.”

“Better than what, Ma’am…” I squeezed Poppy, unable to bring myself to look up at the other woman.

“Whatever the fuck that was back there.” Leah wasn’t just disappointed, she was sad and angry. “Tsk, you’re not really my problem anymore.”

“Alright, bring her back up.” The woman up front, Jane, beckoned us back to the desk, having just finished hanging up the phone. “I can only assume that you didn’t bring her all the way up here for euthanization, which must mean she’s here to be sold, correct?”

“Yeah.” Leah answered nervously, gently pulling her hands from my shoulders. “Sorry for the sudden delivery.”

“They don’t usually come in groups of one.” Jane briefly looked up from her clipboard, her eyes almost completely dead inside. “What’s your name?”

“Chloe.” I didn’t even look up at her, glaring down at the floor in anger. Of course she wasn’t the one I was angry at, I was angry at myself.

“…Is there a last name?”

I blushed, not even realizing that I hadn’t actually said my legal name. Legally, I was Sophia Cavalier, but in the last few months, I had become Chloe. My time with Candace had made me into Chloe.

“Sophia Cavalier… She’s a bit of a small celebrity.” Leah stepped to my side, no longer sandwiching me between her and the front desk. “She’s kind of a special case, she’s already used to the name her last owner gave her.”

“So she’s pre-owned. Then she should already be in the system.” Jane rolled her eyes, pulling me up on the computer at the front desk, trying to find my profile. Her eyes seemed to be flickering between two separate windows as she looked me up. “She should be in here… but I’ll need her number.”

Leah paused, realizing that she didn’t actually know what my number was, not having been the one who gave it to me. Jane glanced at me and then back at the monitor, smiling to herself. “She’s definitely the real deal, though… looks just like her picture~”

I blushed, realizing that she was currently looking me up online to see who I was. Candace had made sure I was still recognizable as Sophia Cavalier. “It’s four zeroes, Miss…”

“Ah!! So that’s why I can’t find you… Class C is difficult, they’re all hidden.” She glanced back at my image results and then back at the window where she continued to search for my profile. Then suddenly she had a realization, her eyes going wide as she looked back at me. “Wait… If she’s a Class C, why is she here?”

“It’s complicated.” Leah spoke before I had the chance to, glaring at me to keep quiet and not say anything. “Why, is there a problem?”

“She’s a Class C, which means she has a predestined owner, but…” Jane bit her lip, finally succeeding in pulling up my profile, frantically looking it over for clues. “She’s pre-owned, which must mean that she’s been there and is now… being returned?”

There were a few moments of silence, the room filled with the sound of her clicking her mouse. It was unprecedented for someone like me to actually get sent back to the facility, I was supposed to be special, that was why I was given one of the special identification numbers after all.

“There’s not really a problem persay, it’s just… that’s never happened before…” She frowned, writing a few things down on her clipboard as she clicked through a few things on my profile, occasionally glancing up to make sure that no one was at the doors to the facility. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to give her owner a call just to make sure that this is legitimate… by whose authority did you say you were here on?”

“Candace St. Clair, Ma’am… She’s my…” My heart twisted as I said her name, having had a hole punched in my heart that could no longer be filled. “She was my Master…”

“There’s a first time for everything I see… Well, in that case… I can take her from here, Leah.” She smiled, closing a couple of her windows as she turned once again to look at me. “Don’t worry, Sophia… whatever the reason may be, you’re here now, and we’re going to make sure that you find your way to a new owner.”

“You… you promise?” I barely managed to choke the words out of my mouth. That should have been good news, I was finally getting away from her, once and for all… but it wasn’t good news, was it?

I don’t want a new owner.

“I promise…” She sighed, stepping out from behind the desk and opening up a door behind her, trying to do her best to reassure me. “Nobody else but me is here right now, but I’ll make sure that you’re taken care of… you’re in good hands.”

“Thank you, Ma’am…” I nodded, acting childishly shyly as I still refused to look up at her, and just like a child, I kept my stuffed dog squeezed to my chest.

“I will need to confiscate all personal belongings, I’m afraid.” She pulled a small tray out from under one of the desks, just noticing Poppy for the first time. “Don’t worry, they won’t be thrown away, we hold onto all of them and transfer ownership of them along with you.”

I should have been listening to her directions, but I couldn’t bring myself to hand the dog over to her, squeezing her to my chest instead. “Can I please keep her?”

“No.” She frowned, setting the tray down on the desk in front of Leah. “I don’t want to have to physically rip them away from her, if she’s not going to cooperate, I’ll have to sedate her.”

“Give me the dog, Chloe.” Leah scolded me, trying to be reasonable but stern as she held out her hands, waiting for me to hand Poppy over. “Candace ordered me to report back to her once I dropped you off…”

“Did she really, Ma’am?” I looked up at her, my face blushing every so slightly, not that she could see it from behind my stuffed puppy.

“Look… she begged me not to hurt you, because she also can’t tell when a gun is loaded, but…” Leah smiled, very clearly trying to make this as easy for me as she possibly could. “She asked me to report back after this… and I would like to reassure her that you got here safely.”

I smiled at Leah, sighing to myself as I relented. If anything happened to this stuffed animal, I was going to lose my mind. “Thank you, Leah…”

“You should be thanking Candace.” She took Poppy from me, delivering it to the tray before removing the purse she was wearing over her shoulder and beginning to empty it. “She sent some other things for her too.”

Jane was being patient, but god damn it did she want to get this over with. “Like what, Leah?”

“Nothing too impressive. Some clothes, keys to her harness, the controller to her shock collar, and some notes on taking care of her. Which includes…” Leah sighed, reading some of the things that Candace wanted to make sure that my new owner was aware of. “A set of instructions for her shock collar, a detailed list of her modifications, and her medications.”

Medications? My ears perked up. I took medications before I became Candace’s slave, but my master had never asked about or given me medications for my diagnoses.

“Are said medications included?” Jane was beginning to grow impatient. “What does she take?”

“Candace says she gives her ADHD medications every morning, and antidepressants twice a day… says she just sneaks them into her food.”

She wasn’t… there’s no way…

“This must have been hard for you both.” Jane took the tray of belongings and set them aside. “Sounds like Candace cared a lot about you…”

I swallowed nervously, choking on my anger as I struggled to keep myself composed. “She did…”

“This is it, kiddo. I have to go.” Leah smiled, pulling me in for a brief hug before leaving. “Sorry that you only ever got to know me as a liar… it’s kind of my job.”

“That’s okay…” I nodded, still not wanting to look up. “Thank you, Miss.”

“I’m probably never going to see you again, but it was nice knowing you… Be good for your new owner, okay?”

“Yes, Miss…” I watched Leah make her way back out, leaving me to my fate.

“Alright, Sophia.” Jane sighed, eager to get on with things. “I’m going to take you downstairs now.”

“Yes, Miss… But, if it’s not too much to ask…” I turned to her, my face turning pink as I forced myself to obey. “Would you please call me Chloe?”

↞✶↠

We headed into the facility, and the first thing I noticed were the names on all of the offices immediately behind the lobby.

The first room to my right belonged to someone named ‘P. Burke.’ But immediately across from that was the office of ‘J. Colton,’ who I could only assume was the woman escorting me through the facility, Jane.

The next set of offices had initials that I did recognize, however. ‘R. Larkin,’ and ‘A. Schmitt,’ the doctor and nurse who oversaw my surgery, respectively. Anthony Schmitt in particular I was aware of, he was Malcolm’s fiance now after all.

At the end of the hallway was one final office, and it belonged to someone that I most certainly recognized, ‘C. Griffin.’

We turned left down the hallway, and did so again at the next intersection, walking down a long hallway and arriving at an unmarked room, opening the door and stepping inside. It looked to just be a storage room, not for people, but for junk.

It was no wonder that I didn’t realize that this was where they kept slaves. I hadn’t noticed it when I came here for my surgery, but that was only because it housed a hidden door leading into another room, a small narrow room with little more than an elevator, which I rode down with Miss Colton, finally arriving at the basement.

The slave facility.

There was only one way in and out of the lower facility, and it was through this elevator. It couldn’t be operated by anyone but the qualified staff, which meant none of the slaves could get on their own. The only way I was going to be getting out of here was in the hands of my new owner, whoever that turned out to be.

I knew that there was no way out, but Jane was more than prepared to shut me down if I tried doing anything funny, she had a security baton on one hip and a taser on the other. “Does your collar come off, Chloe?”

“No, Ma’am.” I shook my head, respectfully answering her questions when asked. “Not as far as I am aware of at least, I was told that it was irremovable.”

“Then it’s a good thing that they sent the controller as well, huh?” Jane smirked, looking me up and down. “Are you doing alright?”

“I’m fine, Ma’am.” I continued to stare down at the floor of the elevator below. “But thank you for asking…”

There was an awkward silence, a pause in the conversation before Jane spoke again. “You’re… awfully well behaved, aren’t you?”

“I don’t want to cause you any trouble, Ma’am.” Of course I was well behaved, I had already been trained. Unlike most girls who rode this elevator into the facility for the first time, I had accepted my fate. “I’m not going to fight… there’s no use anyways.”

Jane was almost stunned. She was obviously used to dragging captured women into the basement kicking and screaming, not peacefully escorting a readily submissive slave. “It’s good that you know that up front…”

We stepped out onto the landing, the elevator door closing shut behind us as we opened up a one way door, which looked to be a solid wall from the other side, just like my cell had been with Candace.

Candace…

My heart was torn in two, and it was all my fault. What was I thinking… of course she cared about me, of course she loved me. This really was the biggest mistake of my life…

But it was a mistake that I wasn’t ashamed of making.

It was all my fault that my heart had been shattered in two, but it wasn’t my fault that I was here. It had never been my fault, really. Kidnapping a girl and forcing her into slavery just because you’re a sore loser wasn’t an appropriate thing to do at all, and it wasn’t something that I could condone, regardless of how it ended up.

This was Candace’s punishment just as much as it was mine, and that was her fault.

“This one is your cell.” I looked back up to Jane, not even realizing that I had gotten sidetracked with my own thoughts.

“I get my own cell, Ma’am?” I bit my lip, peering into it. It actually looked a fair bit bigger than the solid concrete bunker that my now former mistress had kept me in, fit with a bed and everything. “Isn’t this a little bit too nice for me?”

“Too nice for you?” Jane snorted, blinking at me in disbelief. “This????”

“I’ve lived in smaller, Ma’am…” I blushed, hanging my head in shame. Maybe my life really was going to improve now that I was getting away from Candace.

“Then it’s your lucky day, looks like you’re moving up in the world. Now get inside and shut up… I want to get back to not dealing with slaves.” I felt Jane place her hand on my back, forcefully shoving me forward into the rectangular holding cage. “Settle down and sleep or some shit, someone will be here in the morning to see you.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” I stepped inside, hearing the door slam shut behind me, but by the time I was on the bed, Ms. Colton was already long gone.

So this is it, huh? This is where my life has taken me? I looked around the room, my heart aching in my chest as everything that I had been through began crashing in on me. I had never been this scared in my entire life.

Finding myself inside of a small box and being delivered directly to Candace’s doorstep was terrifying, but it was mostly just confusing. Now I knew very well what was going to be happening here.

I would be whipped, beaten, trained, and sold off to whoever my highest bidder ended up being, and then I would be a slave, not Candace’s slave, but their slave… whoever they ended up being.

I was never going to see Candace St. Clair again, and that alone was bad enough to send me spiralling, quickly crying myself to sleep.

↞✶↠

There was a knock on the door, but whoever was at the door of my new cell was only doing it out of courtesy, rather than asking for permission before entering. I shot up, trying to hide my still naked body out of sheer reflex, quickly having been jolted to sleep.

“Calm down, calm down, I’ve seen you naked and covered in blood once already… this really isn’t anything new.” He smiled at me, closing the door behind him as he entered. “Besides, I’m gay anyways.”

Anthony Schmitt, Malcolm’s boyfriend turned future husband. It took me a few moments of looking at him before I realized it was him, he had gotten a haircut.

“That’s clearly my Malcolm’s handiwork, but your makeup has been running.” He, like Jane, was trying to be gentle and reassuring, who knew that being nice to the slaves helped make it easier to handle then. “You look like a fucking mess, sweetie.”

Of course my makeup had been running, I had been absolutely bawling my eyes out during and after Candace’s little party, it was no surprise that I looked awful at a time like this. “Good morning, Sir…”

“Good morning, Chloe.” He smiled, taking a seat in one of the two chairs that decorated my cell, sitting at a small table. “There’s security right outside the door… but it sounds like you’re probably not going to need it, are you?”

“No, Sir…” I shook my head, wiping the dried on tears from my eyes as I sat up to look at him from the bed. “I know better than to think that there’s any way out of this… knowing Candace’s family…”

“Right… well, you can stay over there if you want, but-” He kicked out the chair opposite him on the other side of the table, opening the spot for me. “We need to have a talk.”

“What kind of talk, Sir…” I slowly rose to my feet, knowing that I would be sitting at the table with him regardless.

“A mental evaluation.” He pulled out a clipboard, waiting for me to sit down across from him. “How would you rate your level of anxiety, on a scale of seven?”

“Seven.” I frowned, answering without hesitation, it wasn’t a hard question in the slightest.

“And your depression?”

“Eight.”

“You have no idea the number of times I get that answer.” He smiled, leaning back in his chair. “You go first, I figure you’ll have lots to say, even without me having to ask questions.”

“What, are you my therapist now?”

“Yes.” He stated, pretty matter of factly. “I’m more than just a simple nurse, sweetheart.”

“I don’t…” I grinded my teeth, staring down at my feet in shame. “I don’t want to be here…”

“Nobody ever does.” Anthony chuckled, scratching a couple things down on his clipboard. “But that doesn’t really explain anything to me, does it?”

“No, Sir.” I shook my head, sniffling back tears. “No it doesn’t.”

“Nobody is ever happy to be brought through those doors.” Anthony looked up at me, an unamused smile painted on his face. “But, usually when girls are brought to the facility for the first time, they’re not this agreeable.”

“What do you mean, Sir?”

“I mean that.” He pointed at my face with his pen. “I can count on zero fingers the number of women who came in here already saying things like ‘Yes, Ma’am’ or ‘No, Sir’.”

“Candace trained me well, Sir…” I looked up at him, watching the expression on his face quickly turn into one of confusion.

“It certainly seems like she did…” He looked through the papers on my clipboard one more time just to make sure he wasn’t missing something. “So why exactly are you here… you’re not here for a surgery…”

“I’m here to be sold, Sir.” I frowned, feeling a couple of tears streaming from my eyes, taking my mascara with me. “I know that much. I’m not here to put up a fight… I’m here to be sold.”

“Slaves usually have to get put through training before they can be sold, Chloe.”

“I have been trained, Sir.”

“Not formally, you haven’t.”

“Would you like to hear my guidelines, Sir?” I continued to protest, sitting up straight in my seat. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“By all means, go ahead, sweetie.”

“One. Know my place. I have a role to play. I have a purpose. As a slave, my purpose is whatever my master says it is. I am below my master, and I will remember my place and purpose.”

“Two. Know my master. I have a master, and I know who my master is. I belong to her, and that puts her above all others. She is the center of my world, and I will learn what she needs, learn what she wants, and learn how to serve her.”

“Three. Show respect. I am a slave, not a person. All others are above me and they deserve to be respected. I will put myself below all others, but I will respect my master first and foremost. As a slave, my master is above all others, and I am below all others.”

“Four. Do as I’m told. I will obey my master at all times. When my master tells me to do something, I am to do it. No matter what I’m told, I will always follow my master’s directions.”

“Five. Do not fight back. My master deserves my full respect and cooperation. I will not disobey orders. I will not talk back. I will not disagree with her. My master is the only thing that matters, and I am not to fight back.”

“Six. Act out of love, not out of fear. My master has the right to do whatever she wants to me. I will act out of love for my master, and not out of fear of what she will do to me. I will show her that I love her, and that her happiness is my priority.”

“Seven. Identify with my master. As a slave, I am not an individual, I am a possession. I will identify as my master’s slave, and not as my own person. I will let myself be viewed as my master’s slave, and nothing more. I will be an extension of her. I will let her make my decisions, I will let her fulfill my needs, and I will let her do my thinking for me.”

“Eight. Be vulnerable. I will make my master’s life as pleasant as possible. I will open myself up to her, and I will trust her. I will show my master that I am vulnerable to her. I will show her that I am powerless. I will let her touch me, I will let her hurt me, and I will let her humiliate me.”

“Nine. Be adaptable. I will learn from my mistakes. I will show my master that I will bend to her will. I will be open to anything and everything my master says, even if it goes against what I want. My master’s desires will change, and I must change to suit her needs.”

“Ten. Strive for perfection. I won’t just do as I’m told, I will make my master proud. I will do everything in my power to be more than what my master expects and demands me to be, even if she doesn’t notice. The little things will mean a lot to her, and I will strive to be the best slave my master could ever wish for.”

I hadn’t forgotten them. not a single word.

“Chloe… why are you here?” Anthony was completely stunned, to put it mildly. “Clearly you’re not unfit to serve… so why aren’t you with Candace?”

“Because…” I choked, struggling to breathe at the thought of it. “Because we don’t deserve each other.”

“Chloe…” He stared at me with a nervous look on his face. “Please tell me you didn’t do this to yourself on purpose.”

I could tell him what he wants to hear, but it would be a lie, so I said nothing at all.

“I’ll be back in a minute…”

↞✶↠

It took him a lot more than a minute to get back to me, quickly getting up from his seat and rushing out of my little room, leaving me alone with security once again. But after what felt like an hour, he returned, and he didn’t return alone.

“Hello, Sophia.”

“Hello, Mr. Griffin…” My gaze fixed itself to the floor, unable to face him after what I did last night. “Please… Chloe is fine, Sir. Honest.”

“I’ll call you whatever the fuck I want, 0000.” He shook his head, sending Anthony out of the cell. I wasn’t his sister’s slave anymore, I was a serial number, and that was all I was to him now. “I am not sending you back to her.”

“I know you aren’t, Sir. I wouldn’t expect you too…” I bowed my head, trying to show him respect even despite my fear. “I told you already… I know I don’t deserve it.”

“You’ve got that right…” He kept the door open, despite being here alone with me, as if he didn’t at all expect me to try and run past him.

“Why are you here, Sir?” I bit my lip in anger, trying to keep myself from shouting at him. “I’m not trying to make any trouble, and I won’t be any trouble with you… I would just like to know if you’re here to torment me, or if it’s about something else, Sir?”

“I’m in charge of this facility, Chloe. That’s why I’m here.” He sighed, softening up slightly. “But I want to know why you’re here.”

I blushed, once again hanging my head in shame. “Like I said, I’m here to be sold…”

“Yes, and I am here to sell you.” He continued, still not happy with the answers he’s being given. “One of my employees came running to my office to let me know that you’re ready to be sold… so clearly you’re not unfit to serve, given that you’ve effectively already completed your training period.”

“Are those guidelines really all there is to the training period, Sir?” I kept my gaze fixed downwards, trying not to let him see the bright pink blush on my face knowing that I was essentially already a willing and eager slave.

“We only do preliminary training here, there’s only so much we can beat into a slave’s head, regardless of how thick or thin their skull is… at least not without getting into the specifics of each slave individually, we don’t have time for that.” Cyrus was clearly quite disappointed in me, now knowing how good of a job his sister had done in training me. “Naturally, I am quite surprised that you’re ready for sale on day one…”

I smiled, just a little bit proud to know that I wasn’t just the best starcraft player in the world, but I was also the best slave to ever make her way through this facility. “Your sister taught me well, Sir.”

“Yes, she did a great job…” He frowned, his face morphing into an angry scowl. “It’s too bad that you don’t deserve her.”

“Yes, Sir…” The happy feeling in my chest that flickered on for just a moment quickly extinguished itself. “We never deserved each other…”

There was a short pause, as the two of us stood there, not looking at each other. “Given that I’ve already told you that it’s not going to happen, I’m curious… If I did give you the opportunity to go back to her, would you take it?”

“Is that really an appropriate question to ask me, Sir?” The thought of going back to her side, it was all that I wanted, but we both knew it was never going to happen. “I should be devoting my life to whoever my next owner is, shouldn’t I?”

“That much is obvious.” He chuckled at me under his breath, clearly growing impatient. “But if you could choose said owner to be her once again, would you?”

“Of course I would, Cyrus!!!” I snapped at him, my face hot with rage and shame. “I still love her…”

I should have fully expected a swift kick to the head, yet still he managed to catch me off guard, slamming me into the ground with one solid blow, just like his sister could. But unlike Candace, Cyrus’ kicks were anything but poised and graceful, they were blunt and feral, leaving my ears ringing for several minutes afterward.

“Speak out of line again, I dare you. Candace will be none the wiser… If you really loved her, you wouldn’t hurt her like you always do.” Cyrus scoffed angrily, turning his back to me and heading out the door. “It’s a damn good thing that she won’t have to put up with you ever again.”

I sat there in silence as I watched him slam the door shut as hard as he could. Cyrus clearly loved his little sister a lot, and it showed. He clearly didn’t want to keep me alive, but Candace’s wishes and feelings towards me were enough to keep him from doing anything that would kill me.

“This is what Candace wants, so this is what’s going to happen. I’m doing this for her, not for you.” He spoke to me from the other side of the door, his breath heavy as he addressed me. “She cares about you a lot… so I’m going to make sure that I find you a new owner as soon as I can… so that we can send you to a good home.”

“Thank you, Sir.” I smiled, knowing fully well that he couldn’t see me, but I was happy thinking that just maybe whoever ended up picking me was going to be a good fit.

The idea of it was almost exciting, I’d grown up in a foster home, but no one had ever wanted to take me in as their daughter.

“It’s like being adopted…”